| The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has filed a
lawsuit against Monitor Sugar Co. over how to take care of alleged water
pollution and bad smells.
The suit signals a failure of negotiations between the company and the
state to reach an agreement on how to resolve alleged violations.
Terry Walkington, supervisor of the water quality division of the
Saginaw Bay district of the DEQ, said Monitor Sugar has declined to accept
what the DEQ offered in past negotiations.
"So we've gone beyond that with filing the complaint," he
said.
The Michigan Attorney General's office filed the complaint Friday in
Ingham County, alleging failure to comply with water and air quality laws.
The state's lawsuit pre-empts a citizen lawsuit filed Monday over the same
issues.
Judy Bagley, director of communications for Monitor Sugar, said the
company's internal solutions are in place and Monitor is moving on.
"Monitor Sugar looks forward to putting the facts before a neutral
fact finder and once we demonstrate the things that we've done to remain
in compliance, we feel that we'll be treated fairly," she said.
The state's action disappointed the Lone Tree Council, which had filed
a formal notice of intent to sue Monitor Sugar over the same issues about
60 days ago. The environmental group filed its own suit Monday in U.S.
District Court in Bay City, but according to the federal Clean Water Act,
the state's suit pre-empts the citizen action.
"This company has just gone on too long without being confronted
by their inaction, and so we welcome the state's involvement
finally," said Terry Miller, chairman of Lone Tree. "But we
would have liked to have been part of the process."
Miller said if the state had just waited until after the citizen suit,
both lawsuits could have gone forward together, and he's concerned that a
DEQ-only lawsuit won't result in a strong-enough settlement.
Miller said while the Attorney General's Office and the DEQ have a lot
of personnel with integrity, "we also know that the top
administration of the DEQ is very pro-industry and pro-development, so
there's got to be some worry, there's got to be some concern that it will
not be as strong a settlement as we would like to see it."
Both lawsuits have to do with problems in Monitor Sugar's waste
treatment process. A May 22 "notice of noncompliance" from the
DEQ lists several violations in 1999 and 2000 of waste discharge limits
for temperature, oxygen-consuming matter, suspended solids and toxicity.
The temperature violations of July and August 1999 were settled with a
$15,000 fine to the company this July.
Another letter to the company from the DEQ focused on the Hotchkiss
Road site, where the company composts waste from its sugar beet operation. |